I heard someone say recently that caring about social justice issues is trendy. Someone else said recently that people talk about "being green" just to be cool. I had two reactions to said statements:
1. WHAT?! how can caring about people be trendy? hollister is trendy. skinny pants are trendy. urban outfitters is trendy. or maybe i don't know what's trendy, but i can tell you one thing: caring about the world and the people in it is not allowed to be labeled as trendy. What is wrong with the world? does that mean mother theresa was just ahead of the times, trying to be cool?
2. i guess that's true, to an extent. lots of us want to care about these issues because it seems good or feels good, but we just end up talking about it, wearing our ONE bracelets or something and buying a bunch of environmentally friendly products we never use and we never go out of our way to make actual sacrifices to support what we claim to believe.
So, I guess it's just like anything else - there are people who will just talk about things and never do anything and in so doing, leave a funky taste in people's mouths when it comes to environmentalists or activists or whatever it is that we claim to be but aren't. i'm working on making sure i don't live like that.
images courtesy of joshuawallis, apologists, on flickr and the blood:water mission website
1. WHAT?! how can caring about people be trendy? hollister is trendy. skinny pants are trendy. urban outfitters is trendy. or maybe i don't know what's trendy, but i can tell you one thing: caring about the world and the people in it is not allowed to be labeled as trendy. What is wrong with the world? does that mean mother theresa was just ahead of the times, trying to be cool?
2. i guess that's true, to an extent. lots of us want to care about these issues because it seems good or feels good, but we just end up talking about it, wearing our ONE bracelets or something and buying a bunch of environmentally friendly products we never use and we never go out of our way to make actual sacrifices to support what we claim to believe.
So, I guess it's just like anything else - there are people who will just talk about things and never do anything and in so doing, leave a funky taste in people's mouths when it comes to environmentalists or activists or whatever it is that we claim to be but aren't. i'm working on making sure i don't live like that.
images courtesy of joshuawallis, apologists, on flickr and the blood:water mission website
2 comments:
nice
getting defensive about NOT being trendy is so trendy. ugh.
i read this article this guy was talking about his role model and dying to self and it was pretty good but he was talking about how, back in the 80's, as a punk or punk rocker or whatever it's called, he'd get beaten up, stabbed and shot for his "individuality" and that's what bugs me. people thinking they are something when they're not.
so yeah. i wrote a mini-blog within your blog.
Post a Comment